Overview
- At a Kremlin ceremony receiving European ambassadors, Vladimir Putin said contacts with several European countries have been reduced to a minimum and cooperation on key issues is frozen, adding that Russia is ready to restore necessary relations.
- He accused unnamed actors of replacing diplomacy with unilateral, dangerous actions and pledged continued Russian assistance to Cuba.
- In a Reuters interview, President Trump said Putin is ready to make a Ukraine peace deal and blamed Volodymyr Zelensky for slowing talks, a view Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov publicly endorsed while saying Russia remains open to dialogue.
- Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani replied that relations are strained because Italy condemned Russia’s invasion and defended Ukraine, while stressing Italy is not at war with Russia or the Russian people.
- French President Emmanuel Macron warned Europe is within Russian firing range, cited the Oreshnik missile, announced French participation in Denmark’s Arctic Endurance exercise in Greenland with forces and assets, and urged faster rearmament including a planned budget increase.